Last week, the Corporate Knights Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies index was released at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Although down two places from last year in the overall ranking. Novo Nordisk was recognised for its strong and consistent performance throughout the past decade.

Novo Nordisk ranked number seven on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies in the World index. The Global 100 is considered one of the most influential sustainability rankings along with the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Carbon Disclosure Project.

Published by Corporate Knights, a Canadian and North American business magazine, the Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies in the World Index has tracked the sustainability performance of companies since 2005. Novo Nordisk is one of the few companies that has been featured in all 10 indices.

Looking back over 10 years of sustainability ranking, Corporate Knights published an article that analyses the investment return of the Global 100 compared to the MSCI All-Country World Index, an appropriate benchmark for a global large-cap equity portfolio. The result is a 6.8% outperformance by the Global 100.

In the article, Novo Nordisk is highlighted as the single greatest contributor to the cumulative total return of the Global 100. Since the inception of the ranking, Novo Nordisk’s contribution to the total return of the Global 100 stood at 270%.

The Triple Bottom Line gets the credit

Corporate Knights refers to Novo Nordisk as a “success story” and attributes this success to the company’s “focus on the “triple bottom line” and embedding a broad and long-term view into its organizational strategy.”

“A strong performance in the Global 100 list over the past 10 years is a great achievement and I am proud to see this recognition of our Triple Bottom Line approach, says Susanne Stormer, vice president, Corporate Sustainability, Novo Nordisk. “But most importantly, it is also an encouragement to continue to find new ways to create long-term value for patients, employees, shareholders and society.”

In this year’s index Novo Nordisk ranked second in the pharmaceutical industry and seventh overall, down two places from its 2013 ranking.

To see the full Global 100 list, follow this link.

About the Global 100
The aim of the Global 100 is to highlight the global companies that are most proactive in managing their environmental, social and corporate governance issues. Corporate Knights selects the Global 100 from a base of 4,000 developed and emerging market stocks, based on their sustainability ratings from the world’s largest sustainability research consortium, The Global Sustainability Research Alliance which integrates research from 10 leading firms across the globe including Goldman Sachs | GS SUSTAIN, Société Générale, EIRIS and RiskMetrics Group.

The ranking is based on publicly-disclosed data only, such as financial filings, annual reports, sustainability information, etc. The 2014 ranking is based on publically available performance data from 1 October 2012 to October 1, 2013.

Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with more than 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. The company also has leading positions within haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. We believe that a healthy economy, environment and society are fundamental to long-term value creation. This is why we manage our business in accordance with the Triple Bottom Line business principle and consider the financial, environmental and social impact of our business decisions. The strategic commitment to corporate sustainability has brought the company onto centre stage as a leading player in today's business environment, recognised for its integrated reporting, stakeholder engagement and consistently high sustainability performance.

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